"I think there is a particular issue amongst particular sections of particular communities where you get families and individuals that are just shut out of society's mainstream," he said.

"And we need very specific measures to target them and we need to do that at an early stage."

He said recent incidents had been "horrific" but pointed out that the most serious violent crime rates were falling.

'Not paradise'

But that is small comfort for the residents of Plaistow, east London, where Adam Regis lived.

"There is huge sorrow for the boy and his parents, particularly, of course, as it happened just before Mothering Sunday and that itself has had an enormous impact on people and has created immense sadness," said local vicar Father Roy Reynolds.

Father Reynolds, who took up his post as team vicar of St Martin's Church in Boundary Road, added: "There is crime there and you can't make it out to be paradise because it is not.

"There is crime and I know people who have been mugged but it is not a place that is wracked with crime."